Interchangeable toy and box



(No Model.)

D. SNEDEKER. INTBRGHANGEABLE TOY AND BOX. No. 564,227. Patented July 21, 1896.

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7 W #7 M a 1 I u UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE- DAVID SNEDEKER, OF JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY.

INTERCHANG EABLE TOY AND BOX.

SPECIFICATION forming part of LettersPatent No. 564,227, dated July 21, 1896.

Application filed June 18, 1895.

T0 aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DAVID SNEDEKER, of Jersey City, in the county of Hudson and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Interconvertible Toys and Boxes; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which Figures 1 and 2 are side views, and Figs. 3 and 4 are end views, of an apparatus embracing the several features of my said invention. Fig. 5 is a sectional View through the line to 0c of Fig. 1, and Fig. 6 is a sectional view through the line y y of Fig. 2.

This invention comprises certain novel combinations of parts, whereby is provided a box which may be readily converted from the normal uses of a simple receptacle into a pleasing toy.

A is the body of a box with sides and ends of any convenient or desired dimensions and with a detachable cover B, arranged to be placed upon its top, resting upon the upper edges a of its sides (1. Upon the lower side of the box is provided a detachable bottom 0, which rests against the lower edges 0 of said sides in the same manner that the cover is applied at the top. Attached at each corner of the body A are two stiff lips or flaps D, preferably of sheet metal, which are fast at or near the corner and the free portions 01 of which lap upon, close to and parallel with, the adjacent side of the body A. These flaps may be most conveniently provided by forming those for each end of the box integral with a plate which extends across the end, as shown, and is made fast in any suitable manner upon the said end. To secure the top and bottom, respectively, in the positions hereinbefore described, there are provided metallic bands E, which are placed across the top or bottom, as the case may be, with their ends bent down at right angles and provided with hooked extremities e, which catch under the inner edges of the flaps and thereby hold the straps in their described positions and thus retain in Serial No. 553,210. (No model.)

place the top and bottom or the top or bot tom, as the case may be.

By removing the adjacent straps E, which may be readily done by shifting them laterally until their hooks e are disengaged from the flaps, the top and bottom, either or both, may be readily detached from the body A to afford access to the interior of said body and permit the use of the device as a box or receptacle. I

To convert the device into a toy, I make use of sheet-metal devices Fin various similitudesas, for example, the wheels of vehicles, the rockers of cradles, &c.which are attached by thrusting one edge thereof between a flap or flaps and the adjacent side surface of thebody A. Thus, for example, in Fig. 4, the sheet-metal devices are in the form of rockers, so that by attaching them as described the apparatus assumes the character of a miniature cradle.

In Fig. 2 the sheet-metal devices represent miniature wheels, and thus convert the apparatus into a toy wagon.

What I claim as my invention is 1. The combination with a body, A, of a detachable top or bottom,of sheet-metal flaps, D, extending around the ends of and ar ranged parallel with the sides of said body, and straps, E, placed across the top or bottom with their ends bent at right angles thereto and constructed to hook over the edges of the flaps, substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth.

, 2. The combination with a body, A, having a detachable top or bottom and sheetmetal flaps, D, extending around the ends of. and arranged parallel with the sides of said body, of detachable sheet-material devices, F, having the character described and constructed for attachment to the body by thrustin between the sides of the latter and the adja' cent flaps, substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth.

3. The combination with a body, A, having a detachable top or bottom, of flaps, D, made of sheet material and integral with a plate, attached to the end or ends of the body,

and devices for catching upon the edges of said flaps to retain the top or bottom, one or both, in place to close said body, substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth.

4. The combination with a body, A, having a detachable top or bottom of flaps, D, made of sheet material and integral with a plate, A, attached to the end or ends of the body, and devices, F, constructed and arranged for attachment to the body by thrnst- 1o ing between the same and the flaps, substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth.

DAVID SNEDEKER. Witnesses LoUIs STECKLER, H. S. READE. 

